Mail catching and discharging apparatus



a, .ha n La PATENT OFFICE;

ABRLidLt-alii KEMER, OF iNDiANAPOLl-S, lNDIANA, ASSIGN OR OF ONE-FIFTHTO FEWARD. TREAT, ONE-FFTH TO HARRY E. DREW, ANDv ONE- FFTH TO FRANK' C.LORY, ALL OF INDANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May '7, 1907.

Application filed April 23, 1906. Serial No. 313,135.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that l, ABRAHAM Kleiman, a citizen of the United States,residing at lndianapolis, in the county of ,Marion and State of indiana,have invented certain new. and useful improvements in Mail Catching andDischarging Apparatus, of which the foilowin is a specification.`

The oject of my invention is to provide a convenient and efficientapparatus for receiv in and delivering mail sacks to and from a railwaypostal car while in motion.

The nature of said'invention will appear from the drawings and thefollowing description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a art hereof, andon which similar reference c aracters indicate similar parts, Figure 1is aside elevation of .a/postal car equipped with apparatus embodying mysaid invention; Fig. 2 a view when looking in the direction indicated bythe arrows from the dotted line 2 2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a view on anenlarged scale of a doorway of a car equipped with my apparatus; Fig. 4a vertical sectional view as seen-from the dotted line 4 4 in Fig. 5;Fig. 5 a horizontal sectional view as seen when looking downwardly fromthe dotted line 5 5 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 a detail sectional view at thepoint indicated by the dotted line 6 6 in Fig. 8.

In preparing to use this apparatus, the mail sacks (as is common) aresupported lupon a suitable post arranged in proximity to the railwaytraclr. Said post 21' is ecgiplped with two arms 22 and 2 3 upon W 'cthe sack 25 is immediatelyymounted. These arms (when not in use) swingin opposite directions from each other, 1under the force of suitablesprings orweights, (as 26 or 27) until they occupy the positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. Said springs or weights, when the sack iscarried upon the arms, serve to pull it lengthwise somewhat, so that itis held in a condition of tension. When the mail sack is encountered bythe catching device the supporting structure will be swung aroundsufficiently to permit the sack to escape easily from the ends of thearms.

The car 31 is of the usual or any approved construction, and has thecustomary door openings in its sides. These door openings are equippedwith my improved catching and side. lthe ap aratus may be adjusted tooperate delivering a paratus. Just inside the doorjams are roc -shafts32 and 33, one on each There are two of these in order that when t e caris running 1n either direction. As but one of them is in use at a time Iwill confine my description to one of them. In the illustration theshaft 33 is the one which is in active service. This shaft has two latcharms, 34 and 35, one' at the top and the other at the bottom. The latcharm 34 serves to hold the main catcher member 36 out into the positionin which it is ready to receive a mail sack, (see especially Fig. 5) andthe other or lower arm 35 serves as a latch to hold the dischargingplate 37 open and ready to\ discharge a sack placed thereon. The mainsack-catching member 36 is mounted'upon a pivot shaft 38 and has an endwhich extends beyond said pivot shaft and rests against a suitable sring 39. The operation is (when the car is 1n motion) that vthe latcharm 34 will come in contact with a mail sack 25 carried by the post 21.The force of the .contact will push this arm 34 around, thus releasingthe catcher member 36, and enabling the spring 39 to swing said memberin toward the side of the car with considerable force, thus carrying thesaid mail sack into the door opening of the car.` The same movementswings the latch arm 35 out ofengagement with the platform 37. Saidplatform, being also actuated by a spring 40, will, upon being released,fly up suddenly and throw a mail sack (as 45 in Fig. 2) which haspreviously beenplaced thereon out through the open doorway. The path ofmovement of platform 37 is indicatedby dotted lines in Fig. 4. Thereceiving and discharging of the mail sacks to and from the car is thuseffected simultaneously. If it is not desired to discharge a mail sackat the same time one is received, the platform 37 may be held in itslower or receiving position las long as desired by a suitable catch ordetent 41.

' A rod or bar 42 is placed across the doorway just behind Athe maincatcher member 36, and when said catcher member is thrown inwardly bythe force of the spring 39 the result is to grasp and hold the mail sack(which has just been caught) firmly between said member 35 and .said barand there hold it until the clerk desires to remove it. ln order toprevent the mail vsack from pass- IOO ing lin too far, and also tostrengthen the catcher member 36, I rovide a connectin rod 43,`which ishngecily connected to sai catcher member and extends over and partiallyaround the rod 42.

v I prefer to make the'main catcher member 36 quite broad, asis shown inthe drawings, in order that a wide surface shall come in .lontact withthe mail sack. The purpose of this is to render the use of the catcherless destructive to the sacks.- A narrow rod or bar has a tendency tocause the sack to double up which brings a more severe strain on therings by means of which the sack is supported on the arms of thesupport. The wider surface also distributcs'the force of the blow andthe consequent wear over a greater ortion of the surface of the sack. Itmay )e found to be of advantage to provide perforations in this member36 when made of the width shown, in order that its movement (which isvery sudden) shallvnot be retarded by the resistance of the air againsta large imperforate surf ace.

have'already stated that this apparatus is adapted to be arranged foruse when the car is moving in either direction. To effect this change itis only necessary to take out the pivot shaft 38 from its bearings,adjacent to the door opening, by which it is secured to the side of thecar, turn the catcher member (together with the spring 39) end for end,insert said spring 39 in the pocket 51 provided therefor at the oppositeside of the door open ing, and insert the pivot shaft 38 in the bear-4ings provided .therefor at the same side of said door opening. Therock-shaft 32' will then be the one in active use, Aand the rockshaft 33will be idle. The operation'of the parts when thus arranged will beprecisely the same as when in the position which h'as already beendescribed.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is,-e

1. The combination, with a postal car, of a mail-catching apparatusarranged at the door opening of said car, comprising a rockshaft, an aron 'said rock-shaft, a pivotally mounted catcher member ada ted to beheld outwardly by said arm, an a spring arranged to force said catchermember inwardly when said arm is removed from engagement therewith, saidarm being arranged in the path of'a suitably supported mail sack andadapted to be operatedthereby when the same comes in contact therewith.

2. The combination, in a mail catching and delivering ap aratus, of aspring mountq ed catcher memffer, a spring-mounted de livery member,anda rock-shaft provided with catching arms adapted to engage with bothsaid catching and delivering members and having one member extendinginto the path of a mail sack when suspended along-` sidethe railwayltrack and adapted to be operated thereby.

3. TheA combination, with a postal car, of

*ya mail-catching 'a paratus embodying "a main catcher mem er-pivotally-mounted,

a spring whereby said catcher member is normally forced inwardly, a seatfor said spring at each side ci the door opening, and bearings for thepivot shaft 'at each side of the door opening whereby said catchermember may be reversed and thus `adapted ,to operate when the car ismoving in either direction.

4. The combination, with a pos/tal car,of a mail handling apparatusembodying' a s ring mounted delivery platform, a rocksliaft having acatch arm for securing said delivery platform in its primary osition,and an arm extending out and a apted to be actuated by a mail sack hungadjacent to the track, whereby-said rock-shaft may be moved and thedelivering platform released. The combination, with a postal car, of amail handling apparatus comprising a pivotally mounted andspring-actuated main catcher member, means whereby Athe same is held outin position to catch a mail sack, and

a bar extending across the doorway within and opposite to said catchermember whereby w en said catcher member is released the mail sack willbe caught and held be-` tween said main catcher member andsaid bar.

'6. The combination, with a railway mail car, of mail-catching apparatuscomprising a main catcher member, means for actuatin the same, a baropposite to said main .cate er member, and la connecting rod connectedto said main catcher member and eX- tending over and partially aroundsaid rod. 7. The combination, with a railway postal car, of a mailcatching and delivering ap aratus comprising a main catcher memberpivotally supported'at the door opening of -the car, means whereby saidcatcher mem` ber is forcibly held toward the car, a delivery membernormally within the car, means whereby said delivery member is held in oerative osition, and means adaptedA to e actuated) by a mail sack heldadjacent thereto by means of which both the catcher member and thedelivery member are released from engagement and enabled to operate uponthe mail sacks' simultaneously.

8. The combination, with a railway postal IOO IIO

car, of a mail catching and delivering ap aratus comprising a maincatching mem er supported at the door opening of the car, means formoving said catcher member toward `the door opening, means for holdingsaid. member extended, a delivery member normally within the car, meansfor pro elling said delivery member toward the oor opening, andintermediate connections between the catcher member and delivery member`Whereby when a mail sack is er1- ,l my hand and seal atIndianapo1is,1ndiana,. gaged by the catcher member, the catcher this19th day of April, A. D. one thousand' member will be moved toward -thedoor nine hundred and six.

opening and the delivery member Will be y ABRAHAM KIIMBER. [L.s.] 5moved toward the door opening in opposite Witnesses:

` directions. CHESTER BRADFORD,

In Witness whereof, I, have hereunto set v THOMAS W. `MoMEANs-

